For an abstract of an academic article on kakegoe, or shouting, in kendo, see http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/Jjsh1.html

There is also something on the Muso-jikiden Ryu.

A lot of study of Regency-era boxing in Japan, too, judging by the abstracts around it; also bullfighting in Ehime prefecture.

Joseph Svinth

7th September 2000, 05:21

I've been told some folks haven't found the citations. Gotta go down a ways...

Anyway, they read as follows:

A Historical Study on the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools in North Shinano: A Case Study of the Marginal Bujutsu Transmitted in the Villages in the Edo Period

Shoji ENOMOTO (Nanzan University)

Abstract

In the Edo period the peasants were prohibited by law from possessing weapons. Nevertheless, the peasants already practiced Bujutsu in the first half of the Edo period.

Documents of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools in the possession of the Takizawa family in a village in North Shinano have been found and analyzed by the present author.

The purpose of this study is threefold:

(1) To clarify what kinds of peasant in a village community practice the martial arts of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools.

(2) To clarify what kind of Bujutsu they practice, that is to say, what is the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools.

(3) To clarify the purposes for which they practice it. Briefly, the main conclusions were as follows:

(1) Many of the peasants that practiced the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools were also the samurais of the lowest rank in the Matsushiro clan, that is to say, they were the marginal people in the villages.

(2) The MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools was comprehensive bujutsu which was medieval. It consisted of jujutsu, bojutsu, iai, nawa, and so on.

(3) The purpose of the MUSO-JIKIDEN Schools was primarily vocational educaion, but it was pastime and sport for many peasants in the villages.

AND

Japanese Journal of Sport History
No. 4 1991

A historical study on kakegoe of kendo: An introduction for a new viewpoint on the study of budo history

Shoji ENOMOTO (Nanzan University)

Abstract

Kakegoe can be translated into "shouting" in English. In the matches of the modern Kendo, various types of Kakegoe, such as 'Men' 'Kote' 'Doo' ' Yaa''Too', have been used.

This study has two purposes. One is to clarify where Kakegoe of Kendo is traced back to, and the other is to point out the erroneous assumptions in the former studies of Budo history in order to offer the study of Budo history a new perspective.

The gist of this paper is as follows:

( 1 ) In the Edo period, there were various schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe and various ones without Kakegoe. The KASHIMA-KATORI-SHINTO Schools, for instance, handed down Kakegoe. On the contrary, the SIINKAGE Schools and the ITTO Schools, which were the mainstream of Kenjutsu in the Edo period, did not hand it down.

( 2 ) The main function of Kakegoe of Kenjutsu in the Edo period was to increase and display the spirit of the performer, and was similar to that of the spells in Esoteric Buddhism.Some acting elements existed in Katas which were practiced in the schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe in the Edo period. Because people belonging to
these Schools sometimes used Kakegoe for the purposes of giving their opponents the signs of attacking and of expressing their feelings.

( 3 ) All schools of Kenjutsu with Kakegoe were local in the Edo period; that is to say, Kakegoe was handed down in the Schools mainly consisting of peasants. Nevertheless, their modes of Kakegoe existed in the Shinai-Uchikomi-Shiai-Kenjutsu which became the mainstream of Kenjutsu by the last
days of the Tokugawa shogunate and was the original form of the Modern Kendo.

( 4 ) It has been considered in the former studies of Kendo history that the Modern Kendo developed from the ITTO Schools and so on which were the mainstream of Kenjutsu in the Edo period. But, the history of Kakegoe tells us that the former studies of Kendo history are one-sided, and that the Modern Kendo can be traced back not only to the samurais' Kenjutsu but also to the Peasants' Kenjutsu.

[Edited by Joseph Svinth on 09-07-2000 at 09:34 PM]

W.Bodiford

7th September 2000, 22:01

Thank you for posting this valuable link. (It is amazing what turns up on the web!)

Regarding the relationship between Ittoryu and so-called "peasant styles of swordsmanship," see my recent post to the "Kendo/Itto ryu" thread.

I believe Enomoto too readily identifies Ittoryu exclusively with the small minority of samurai.